Courage and Community

Peter
Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is an Emmy
Award-winning composer, NY Times best-selling author and noted
philanthropist. Currently, he is releasing socially-conscious music and
touring his "Concert & Conversation" series in support of his bookLife Is What You Make It.

Well, it finally happened. I really couldn’t come up with
anything to write when the time came to write it. So, with permission, I’m
posting something that a friend wrote to his colleagues over the holidays because I certainly couldn’t have said it better. This was written by Martin Ping from Hawthorne Valley Farm:

Strange is our situation here on earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes
seeming to a divine purpose. From the
standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are
here for the sake of each other. —Albert Einstein

The concept
that we are separate is a worn and tired idea that resides at the root of many,
if not all, of our modern crises. The
Cartesian split has played itself out. A new consciousness is waiting to be
born to replace the foundational thinking on which our systems are built. Reductionism must give way to context
again. Mechanization must be reimagined
as biomimicry. An opaque financial
system based on anonymous transaction must transition to a true economy based
on relationship and caring. The
dichotomies of man and nature, mind and body, spirit and matter must be made
whole in order that we may remember ourselves in the universe. Collectively, humanity will co-author the new
narrative that imbues all life with meaning, purpose, and integrity.

This is the great work of our
time. It is work best undertaken as a community. Wendell Berry notes that “a proper community
answers the needs, practical as well as social and spiritual, of all its members–including the need to be needed.” We are here for the sake of each other. Learning forgiveness is part of what
community is for, inviting seeds of peace to be sown for the future. The season’s festivals inspire us to have
courage and ignite our inner light against the darkness. Courage derives from the French cour, meaning heart. May we take heart and have the courage to
inform our thinking, guide our feeling, and direct our willing with the light
of love.

What is work is the great big question on my mind at the moment - Of course there is the person who plows the field and the person that milks the cows and the person the brings the produce to market for sale - but there are so many additional work situations or jobs that these few I mentioned and it seems that over and over again these elements of society which may or may not be regarded as important as others - well just are not recognized as valid work - I am certainly glad Peter that you have found yourself in a position without words to write this time around since it is definitely something that many people may come across in their chosen profession - no words at the moment - or no notes to pen at this very time for this occasion or no profound images to wow - but these absences of what to say or play or show are part of nature as much as the times during the period when the land is let fallow - what happens in these cases either with the land or in our hearts minds and beings is very important indeed - there are not always instant answers - not always a clear vision as to what comes next or not always the right tune or melody to express something that may or may never come - there are of course sometimes no words to express emotions - just let things sit at least for a while -